Wings
by Fanatical Dreams
Summary: She has watched plenty of people die – most of whom could have been saved – Haku and Zabuza, the civilians of Rain, Kimimaro - and there is no way in hell she is going to stand by while Sasuke kills perhaps one of the bravest and most loyal man Konoha has ever seen. Slight ItaSaku


AN: New oneshot I wrote - this is in an AU where people have 'Gifte's, which are a talent (eg. perfect chakra control, 359 degree sight), and a physical manifestation of said Gifte (wings, byakugan).

I am also thinking about a sequel to 'Oblivion', something along the lines of (but not confirmed), Sasuke finding out about Sakura and Akatsuki via the Bingo Book that Kakashi is reading at the end.

Anyway, enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

Sasuke-kun is going to kill him, she realises.

And she has to stop him.

"Sakura," Tsunade warns, reading the look in her eyes, "don't do this. He doesn't deserve it."

Sakura blinks disbelievingly before turning on her mentor, "He doesn't _deserve _it?" She says, still stunned at the news, "He murdered his clan to save Konoha, and you're saying he _doesn't_ deserve to be _saved?"_

Her wings curl in her fury, preparing themselves for her flight. She is standing opposite Tsunade, who is seated at her desk. They are in the Hokage tower and completely blocked off from the rest of the world, save for the large glass window to the side.

The mission scroll from ten years ago is sitting in front of her – the mission scroll of the Uchiha Massacre.

"_Sakura," _Tsunade says, a harder edge to her voice. "_Don't_ _do this_. You _must _understand. Sasuke has to kill him to return to Konoha – it's the rule – a life for a life."

Sakura growls. She _knows _it's the rule – if you want back in with Konoha, you have to kill a Leaf missing ninja first. Like Tsunade said – a life for a life. Nevertheless, her green eyes darken in anger, fury lacing her voice. "Sasuke deserves to know. He deserves to have his target changed to someone else."

Tsunade sighs in frustration, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "You and I both know that Sasuke will never listen to you. There is no point. Uchiha Itachi may be innocent but he is still part of Akatsuki."

"_Yes," _she says, her voice angry, rising in pitch, "so he can give information to _Jiraiya_. He was his informant!"

"Some sacrifices have to be made," says Tsunade fingers interlaced calmly in front of her. "Don't go Sakura. That is an _order."_

Sakura's eyes widen as she trembles at her mentor's words. Sasuke is out there _hunting_ Itachi, and she's supposed to stay here knowing that he's murdering an innocent man? She has watched plenty of people die – most of whom could have been saved – Haku and Zabuza, the civilians of Rain, Kimimaro, and there is no way in hell she is going to stand by while Sasuke kills perhaps one of the bravest and most loyal man Konoha has ever seen.

"_Make me_," she whispers harshly, and sets off towards the open window. In the corner of her eye, she sees her shishou stand up in surprise and leap towards her, but it is too late. She jumps out of the window, shattering the glass into millions of pieces as her wings unfurl.

They stretch, reaching outwards, only an inch or two over her fingertips. They are not big, which means that they will not give her the speed she needs, but her head start will hopefully give her an advantage against the ANBU who are no doubt beginning to chase her.

She and Tsunade share the same Gifte – perfect chakra control, though their physical manifestations are different – her shishou has a diamond on her forehead, which allows her to tap into hidden chakra reserves larger than anyone else she has ever seen, but Sakura's manifestation is a much more permanent one – one pair of feathery wings, protruding from her back.

She supposes that they are her saving grace. Though they aren't as offensive as the Uchiha clan's sharingan, or the Hyuuga clan's byakugan, they give her escape, and they give her freedom.

A kunai whizzes past her, just brushing her leg. She looks down in alarm, to see an ANBU, face covered with a mask - a cheetah, below her. He has to be the Hokage's personal runner, which probably explains how he caught up so fast. If she can stop him without losing her momentum, the others will never catch up. But she has to hurry, as he will outrun her if she doesn't do something soon.

She flies into a cloud, and quickly performs a handseal. The ANBU below is confused as three Sakura's shoot out of the cloud. He pauses momentarily before reacting quickly, splitting himself into three, each following a different Sakura.

It is his speed that is his downfall. He disappears from sight within seconds, and the real Sakura emerges from the cloud. He has let himself run away quickly, and she will be able to build her speed back up so that the other ANBU won't catch her. It will take him awhile to take down all three clones, and by the time he realises that he's been tricked, she will be long gone.

Now, it is time for her to find Sasuke.

* * *

Uchiha Itachi knows that death is near.

Just like he planned.

He can feel the combined force of his injuries pounding down on him at once, and even though he is used to the pain, he is strangely glad that soon, he will be dead and his brother will finally be able to return to Konoha a hero.

Sasuke has suffered a lot in his childhood, and though Itachi managed to stop the elders from harming him, he did not manage to stop him from leaving for Orochimaru. But this is his chance to redeem himself - by killing him, he will be welcomed into Konoha as the man who killed Uchiha Itachi.

He has been holding back slightly in their fight, but not too noticeably, and his illness is greatly slowing his reflexes anyway. He has fallen into many a trap he could escape from, but has not. His brother needs to defeat him. Though he knows that Sasuke will never reach his level, he knows that his death will be believable.

"This is for killing our parents, _Itachi,_" his otouto sneers.

This is it, Itachi realises, as he finds that he cannot move – another trap. But he stays there, because he is ready, and the fight has gone on long enough.

So he lets himself be held down.

It is the chidori, he sees, of the infamous Copy-nin. Sasuke is charging towards him, sharingan spinning wildly, lightning in his hands. Itachi is standing at the edge of a cliff, and he knows that if it hits, it will plant a hole through his stomach, and throw him off the cliff. The two combined will kill him.

_It is my time_, he thinks. _I am ready to die._

"_Wait!" _

His otouto freezes.

"Sasuke-kun! _Stop!" _

He is so surprised, that his jaw slightly drops. His little brother's chidori is a mere millimetre in front of his stomach, so close that he can feel the lightning against his clothes.

"_Sakura_," his brother hisses, "What are you _doing?"_

He follows his brother's gaze up to the sky, where he finds a sort of angel. Her hair is pink, like pink lemonade, and she has the whitest wings he has ever seen. He chuckles softly. Is this his redemption before death?

It is only as she lowers that he realises that she is not an angel, but Tsunade's apprentice, whose Gifte is perfect chakra control. The wings are the physical manifestation of her Gifte, like the sharingan is of his.

He notes ironically that he remembers her to have a rather large crush on his brother, and that perhaps she's here to help him finish him off.

"Sasuke," she says, her breathing haggard as she lands on the floor, mere metres from the two brothers. "You can't kill him. You have to listen to me."

His brother looks noticeably angry, sharingan beginning to spin faster and faster in agitation.

"_What?" _He hisses, chidori inching closer and closer to his chest.

"The Uchiha massacre, please, it isn't what you think."

Itachi freezes at this. Does she know the truth? Is she going to tell Sasuke? He narrows his eyes at this new development, and even feels a bit of loathing towards the little pink ninja. He was fully prepared to die. _This, _was not how he planned his life to end.

"The Uchiha," she says, "They were planning – planning a coup. There was going to be a war, they were revolting against the Hokage. Your brother-" she pauses to look at Itachi, wide green eyes taking him in in a new light.

"You knew about it, and you told the Hokage. The council decided that the Uchiha were to be eliminated before they could cause a war and destroy Konoha, and they wanted you to do it," she says, still keeping eye contact with the man at the edge of the cliff.

"You killed your own family to save Konoha."

Sasuke screams, and Itachi doesn't know what to say.

"Stop messing around Sakura," his brother growls, "Even if it _were_ the truth it doesn't make up for the fact that he did it – he killed them all Sakura, he _killed_ them all."

His chidori is about to hit him, but she is there faster and is holding him back.

"Wait, Sasuke-"

"_Goddamit!" _Sasuke screams. He throws her off, and turns his murderous gaze to her frightened green eyes.

"I've put up with you all this time because the dobe liked you. I endured those ramen sessions, those parties, even those goddamn shopping trips. I put up with you because I respected Naruto. But you know what? I've never liked you, despite what you think. I never liked you _before_ I went to Orochimaru, _during _my time at Orochimaru or _after _I left Orochimaru. And now, I've given up trying to put up with you, and there is no way in _hell _you are going to stop me from killing this man Sakura – _no way in hell."_

And she is stunned, so stunned, that she doesn't react when Sasuke's chidori hits the older Uchiha, sending him spiralling over the cliff, blood splattering his hand.

"Kami," she whispers as her eyes widen.

Then, before Sasuke realises what she's doing, she jumps off after him, wings arched straight across her back, helping her to fall, quicker and quicker towards the dying Uchiha.

Itachi on the other hand is used to the pain, and knows that when he hits the ground he will finally be rid of this world.

And then he sees her pink hair.

She grabs his arm, and he is dangling in mid-air. He looks up in surprise, and he sees her wide viridian eyes, and her white wings flapping in the sky.

"There is no way in hell I am going to let you die," she whispers with a small smile.

She is flying upwards, albeit very slowly with his added weight, when he hears his brother's blood-curdling scream.

Sakura's eyes are kind, and he even feels strangely warm, a moment before he hears the word '_Amaterasu'_.

And suddenly, her wings are on fire. Her eyes widen in surprise, and she lets him go before she screams. Tears are seeping through her eyes as she convulses in mid-air, white wings set aflame by black fire. Her shirt is torn, and her white feathers are bloody and charred. She is sobbing so hard, and her breath is choking. She looks like death.

It is then that Itachi decides to hell with it. He doesn't know why he does it, but as they are both falling, he decides to fight for real.

"_Susanoo," _he growls. And suddenly, his armour is up, big and grand, and a skeleton hand swipes the girl into its palm before she hits the ground.

She is still screaming, and crying, and her wings are no longer white.

Itachi is furious.

His sharingan spins into its mangekyou form and his eye begins to bleed as he calls upon all his genius to slowly extinguish the flames. He can hear Sasuke's snarls in the background, but he is solely focused on this little kunoichi.

The flames on her wings finally extinguish, but she is still crying, and he can see why. Her wings are no longer wings, but charred bone and ash protruding from her back.

She can no longer fly.

His Susanoo places her gingerly within its ribcage, next to him, and he turns his furious gaze to his brother.

"I forgave you for running to Orochimaru," he says calmly, "and I forgave you for hurting all your friends, but you _know_ what sin it is to destroy someone's Gifte."

He is furious at his brother, and he is furious at himself. If he hadn't fallen, the girl would not have lost her Gifte. Her life is over now – without a Gifte, you have no chakra. You are as good as an empty shell of a person.

The only thing worse than death, is to lose one's Gifte.

And Itachi is prepared, fully prepared, to avenge the girl before he spots silhouettes in the distance – Konoha has arrived to help his brother.

Susanoo retreats, and disappears, leaving the girl in his arms.

"_Zetsu," _he whispers.

And before Sasuke's eyes, he sinks into the floor, taking the bloody kunoichi with him.

* * *

.

.

.

"Did it work?"

Konan turns around and gives Itachi a small smile. Haruno Sakura is lying on one of their medical beds, her pink hair still splattered with blood. Her chest is bound, but her back is bare, where Itachi can see a faint scarring in the shape of a 'V'.

"I cut off the remainders of her wings – they were un-saveable," she says, and notices that the normally stoic Uchiha is frowning. "But I did inject some regrowth cells into her back to try to stimulate regrowth. It hasn't worked on any other subjects, but this is the first time we've tested it on a human. There's been no reaction so far, but there is hope."

Slowly, Konan reaches towards her back, and pinches a small bit of her skin. She fiddles slightly, before pulling something out.

It is a feather, and it is black.

.

.

.

* * *

AN: I'm still pondering on whether this is going to be a oneshot, or a prologue. What do you think?


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